The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Integration or assimilation?

(Mohan
Bhagwat’s declaration of integrating Kashmir fully into India may, on the
contrary, begin the process of disintegration of India itself!)

The Oxford dictionary defines “Integration” as an action to
bring together different countries, blocks, units and so on for political or
economic integration. The best example of the process is the European Union.
The integrated countries or states retain their individual characteristics but
become part of a whole. On the other hand, the “Assimilation” is the absorption
and integration of people, ideas, or culture into a wider society or culture.
The best example is the absorption of various races, nationalities into what we
now call the American Nation which basically is an artificial creation.

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has declared that Kashmir will be
fully integrated into India after amending the Constitution. He seems to have
confused the words “Integration” and “Assimilation”! In fact, he appears to be
saying that Kashmiris would be fully assimilated into the Hindu Nation of the
Indian mainland which he intends to turn into Golwalkar’s dream of a Hindu
Rashtra. Incidentally, he does not mention Kashmiris who have inhabited the territory
for thousands of years but talks about Kashmir, the land. He probably considers
Kashmir only as a territorial unit of Hindu origin. Unfortunately, right from
the start, both India and Pakistan have been laying claim to the territory of
Kashmir and none is really interested or bothered about its inhabitants, the Kashmiris!

In ancient times, Kashmir was known as a separate independent
kingdom at the same time when India was known to be a country inhabited by
Hindus. No doubt at that time the religion professed by Kashmiris was Shaivism,
a school of philosophy of Hinduism practiced only in Kashmir and most of South
India. However, even at that time, Kashmir was not associated with the Indian
mainland in any way but remained as an independent sovereign kingdom. No doubt,
that was a glorious Hindu past of Kashmir but that past has gone by and we are now
living in a totally new and a different present. Kashmir is now a Muslim
majority state with the most tolerant and accommodative religious practices. History
always moves forward and pinning about the past glory is not going to serve any
purpose or change the ground situation. That can be done by physically changing
the demography with outside settlers and displacing the original inhabitants. That
seems easier to say than to do practically on ground. This is especially so
because of the restive youth fighting bullets with stones! They have been
alienated beyond redemption. Even BJP leader Yashwant Sinha says that India has
lost Kashmir emotionally!

Regarding integration, well, Kashmir is already integrated
with India. This had happened right after the signing of the accession document
and the Delhi Agreement in forties and fifties of the last century. Had the
Indian authorities honoured these documents and implemented the same in letter
and spirit, there would have been no problem. In fact, Kashmir would have been
another Bhutan! Had India honoured its commitment of full autonomy, the other
side would have been in trouble. There one central minister of Kashmir Affairs in
Islamabad controls everything in supposedly “Azad” Kashmir! The other part
earlier known as Northern Areas and now called Giligit-Baltistan is now totally
merged into Pakistan for all practical purposes. The setting up of the China
Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Gilgit-Baltistan forming
part of the disputed state of Jammu & Kashmir, has made this part
unnegotiable both for Pakistan and China! They cannot afford to change its
status at any cost for their own survival!

Thus, if Mohan Bhagwat really wants to integrate honestly and
genuinely Kashmir and the Kashmiris living there into the Indian Republic, he
has to restore the integrity of the agreements which India had signed with
Kashmiris rather than amend the constitution to assimilate the state and its
people into his utopian Hindu Rashtra! Kashmir can become part of Hindu Rashtra
only if all Kashmiris are either converted back into Shaivite Hinduism or they
are forcibly displaced from there by new Hindu settlers. This, as already
stated, is an impossible task! On the contrary Mohan Bhagwat should advise
Prime Minister Modi to start a dialogue in Kashmir if he really wants
“Emotional Integration” of Kashmiris!

Incidentally, in view of the above realities, one needs to go
deeper into this tirade of Hindu Rashtra and full integration of Kashmir into
it generated by BJP and RSS. There is only one plausible explanation. All the
BJP and RSS statements and declarations are intended to create a wave of
religious euphoria for the next Parliament election which may even be preponed
from 2019 to 2018. The declaration of the Election Commission that they are
fully geared for holding both the State Assembly Elections and Parliament
Election simultaneously in 2018 itself seems an uneasy indication of the real
cause for such emotionally charged religious waves. However, such drastic
declarations, instead of fully integrating Kashmir into India, may, on the
contrary, disintegrate India itself!